U.K. patients missing out on novel cancer therapies

Gobs of novel cancer drugs have been approved in the past two decades. But very few are actually reaching the British patients who need them, STAT’s Ed Silverman writes — and both drug makers and European regulators are to blame.

Drug makers didn’t develop enough innovative treatments for the cancers with the highest unmet medical need in the U.K., according to a review of 97 cancer drugs authorized by the European Medicines Agency between 2000 and 2016. Furthermore, the time it took between patent filing and clinical trial launch rose from two years to three years. And the development of highly innovative drugs progresses far slower than that of “me too,” low-innovation drugs.